Immortal Kombat
by WolfBlade117
Summary: Coming out of obscurity after millennia of hiding, Naruto is offered a chance to defend Earthrealm from those who seek to destroy it. Naru/harem, lemons, powerful Naruto
1. Chapter 1

New Story. There will be lemons.

Disclaimer for the whole story, so that no one complains; I don't own Naruto or Mortal Kombat.

"Regular Speaking"

_Thinking_

**"Demon Speaking"**

_**Demon Thinking**_

* * *

><p>Naruto Uzumaki yawned. Yet another long day.<p>

Getting up out of the bus seat, he clambered out and looked around. Scotland in this time of year was pretty damn cold. A light dusting of snow was coming down from the sky and everywhere he walked, his boots crunched down on the delicate flakes.

Sighing, he drew up the hood of his ANBU cloak and pulled his orange scarf up so that it covered his mouth and nose. It was especially freezing today, and given how long he'd been alive, that was saying something. No one in their right mind would be out in the middle of the Isle of Skye when the temperature was -20 degrees Celsius. A blizzard would be blowing in in twenty three and a half minutes.

He groaned. Sleeping in the snow was so annoying.

Looking up, he noticed a distant cloud darken and flash with lightning and he raised an eyebrow. That was unusual. There wasn't supposed to be any thunder today, just snow.

He also idly noted that it had begun to move towards him.

He looked in the other direction, and almost wasn't surprised to see a black cloud of what looked like ash was moving towards him, at the same speed as the thundercloud. His eyes narrowed. It was moving fast... and against the wind.

Shrugging to himself, he walked on. Unusual weather wasn't cause for alarm. At least, they hadn't been for a few millennia.

**_DAMMIT NARUTO, WILL YOU STOP WALKING AND LISTEN TO ME?_**

Sighing again, the shinobi stopped walking and laid down before slowly closing his eyes and fading into his mindscape.

* * *

><p>His eyes blinked open, revealing nothing but blackness above.<p>

Raising himself up from the knee deep water he was floating above, he looked around and gave a tired smile. "Hey guys. How're you doing?"

Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Gokū, Kokuō, Saiken, Chōmei, Gyūki and Kurama, known only to him as the Nine Tailed Beasts, looked down at him and muttered various forms of 'hello' and 'fine', while the last, Kurama, just glared.

Naruto gulped. He knew that look; it was one the giant fox only used when someone was about to receive a major tongue lashing.

**"Finally, you little brat! I've been trying to get you in here for hours!"** the Nine-Tailed Fox growled and Naruto cringed.

"Well, uh, my bad," he said weakly, and Kurama looked down at him murderously.

**"My bad? MY BAD!? I swear, I don't know how I stand you sometimes!"**

**"Now, now, Kurama," **Matatabi said. **"I'm sure the poor boy has a very good reason for not paying attention."**

**"Ha!" **Son Gokū laughed. **"****As if needs a reason not to pay attention to Kurama!"**

**"Shut it, you damned ape!"**

Son Gokū continued on as if the fox hadn't spoken. **"After all, I take great pride in my ability to zone out during one of its incessant rants!"**

**"You take pride in everything you do, Son Gokū,"** Kokuō said calmly. **"One more thing isn't that impressive."**

**"Hey!"**

**"Ha! You just got burned, Gokū!" **Chōmei laughed.

Naruto sighed. Such was the burden of being the holder of all nine of the Tailed Beasts. They were as different from each other as fire and water, and there were nine of them.

Well, ten, actually.

"Has Shinju gotten up yet?" he asked suddenly, shutting them all up instantly.

Nervously, they all looked behind Kurama into a cave darker than pitch. Now that they were all quiet, a slow, heavy breathing could be heard from within it.

**"You know him, Naruto," **Isobu said, more nervously than usual. **"He never wakes up but in the most dire of circumstances." **

"Yeah, I know," the blond said, then looked up at Kurama. "So why were trying to call me?"

**"You noticed those clouds, didn't you?"**

"Yeah. Why?"

**"I sensed two distinct energy signatures in each one. They are far more powerful than any measly human could ever hope to be. Except for you, of course."**

"Aw, that's so nice, buddy," Naruto said cheerfully. "I didn't know you cared!"

**"I DON'T, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" **Kurama roared, ignoring the snorts of laughter from the other Bijuu. **"I'm saying that there's no way that the two beings in those clouds are human!"**

Naruto's cheery manner quickly disappeared and he sighed, sitting cross-legged on the water. "I was afraid of that."

The nine beings of pure chakra all looked down at the one person on the planet that they called friend. **"What are you going to do?" **Gyūki asked.

"I really don't know. I'll see what's happening, I guess," he said, and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>Back in the real world, he blinked and looked up at the white sky, brushing a little snow from his face. Without even looking up, he knew that the two clouds were almost upon him. Now that they were closer, he could detect multiple life signatures in each one.<p>

Sighing, he settled into a comfortable position in the snow, and waited, occasionally taking a bit of snow from the ground and munching on it with his eyes closed.

It was barely five minutes before the clouds reached him.

The ash cloud arrived first, spilling several figures onto the ground in puffs of smoke.

The thundercloud arrived second, and seemed to gather itself together before half a dozen bolts of lightning struck the ground, depositing figures that struggled to stay standing, except for the leader, who seemed used to it.

They all looked around for a second, and spotted their target, which, surprise surprise, seemed to be Naruto.

The first group was already moving towards him before the second even arrived, so they managed to reach him first.

The leader, a tall, shirtless bald man with really white skin and several strange markings on his body, looked down at Naruto in surprise, before clearing his throat pompously. "Greetings, mortal. I-"

"What do you think you're doing, Quan Chi?" shouted the leader from the other group, a tall man with a straw hat and very white eyes.

The... man... looked up and his eyes narrowed. "I suppose I'm doing the same thing you were thinking of doing, Raiden."

"Shao Kahn is forbidden from invading Earthrealm unless he has won the Mortal Kombat!" Raiden spat, not even paying attention to the man.

"He is not invading, Thunder God," Quan Chi replied bitingly. "He merely sends an envoy to enquire about a new Kombatant."

"Uh, before you guys start measuring dicks, I think you should look down," a guy in a grey suit with black sunglasses said. When they both turned to glare at him, he held up his hands. "Hey, no offense! Seriously, the guy's asleep!"

They did look down and saw that the man was, in fact, snoring lightly.

Quan Chi looked down at the blond man with rage in his eyes. "You dare ignore me!" he yelled. A green spiked mace appeared in his hands, which he swung down before anyone could react.

The mace struck the sleeping man in the face, a blow that would have killed almost any human.

What no one expected was for him to burst into smoke.

"Well now, that was rude," a voice said tiredly, causing them all to swivel around. Their eyes boggled as the same man who'd just been hit stood a little ways away, arms crossed. "Care to explain what the hell you guys are doing? And why you felt the need to try and kill me?"

Quan Chi cleared his throat awkwardly as he realized that his little temper tantrum could have lost Shao Kahn a potential ally.

Raiden looked at the man with interest. He himself had the power to teleport, but hadn't heard of someone able to do it and heal from an almost fatal injury at the same time.

Naruto looked around at the two groups with a critical eye. Each had three people. The one from the thundercloud consisted of the leader, Raiden, whose glowing white eyes shone under his straw hat. Besides that, the guy in the shades and suit looked kind of familiar. Some kind of movie star.

The last member of the group had him raising an eyebrow. A blonde chick wearing biker gloves, _very_ tight pants and a high-riding, vest-like, low-cut jacket that was unzipped enough to show a generous amount of cleavage. Judging from the badge on the jacket and the dog tags around her neck, she was in the military somewhere, and Naruto only had one thought.

_There is __no freaking way that __that outfit is standard._

Taking his eyes off the lady, he looked over at the second group and this time both eyebrows rose. The leader wasn't really so interesting, it was the two behind him that really got Naruto's attention.

The two women were clad in similar costumes that most men would drool at. They wore face masks reminiscent of the one his old pervert of a sensei used to wear, along with thigh-high, high-heeled boots, arm guards and some very scanty bustiers. One's costume was blue, the other green. The woman in the green had darker skin than her companion, but both were still gorgeous.

_Damn. These ladies are HOT.__  
><em>

Sitting down with a sigh, he looked up at the pale guy. "Well?"

Clearing his throat again, Quan Chi walked forward a little until he stood in front of Naruto. "Greetings, mortal. I am Quan Chi, an envoy of Shao Kahn, Konqueror of Realms and Emperor of Outworld. I am here at my lords request to offer you a place in the Mortal Kombat tournament."

Naruto looked at him blankly. "The what now?"

Quan Chi's eye twitched, but he controlled himself with effort. "The Mortal Kombat tournament was set in place by the Elder Gods many millennia ago to allow each realm a chance to defend itself if it was threatened by another realm. Champions from each realm are chosen and the winner of ten consecutive tournaments is allowed to invade and absorb the loser's realm."

Naruto blinked for a few seconds. "Well, that's stupid."

Both groups gaped at him surprise as he stood up and stretched, before looking over at the second group. "And what's your guys' deal?"

The straw hat guy stepped forward as well and inclined his head. "I am the Thunder God, Raiden. I represent Earthrealm in the Mortal Kombat tournament against the likes of Shao Kahn."

"Thunder God, huh? Figures I'd run into one eventually," Naruto said, then looked over at the guy in the suit again. "Hey wait, aren't you Johnny Cage?"

"Yes I am!" the actor said. "Want an autograph?"

"No thanks," Naruto replied with a shake of his head. "No offense, but your movies kind of suck."

Cage's jaw dropped as the blonde next to him coughed several times to hide her laughter. Naruto turned back to Raiden, who was still looking at him inquisitively. "So anyway, what do you want from me, Ray-dude?"

The Thunder God's eye twitched. "Raiden, and I am here to offer you a chance to defend Earthrealm from Shao Kahn."

"Well, not that that's not interesting, but why me? There are plenty of people around who can fight," he asked.

"Two nights ago, a very powerful creature was detected in the middle of a town south of here. Several eyewitnesses described a yellow-haired man with peculiar golden eyes and three marks on each cheek actually _riding _the creature while laughing insanely. We tracked you from there. If you command such a creature you could be a powerful asset."

Naruto blinked for a few seconds, then held up a hand. "Hold on for a sec," he said, before sitting down and shutting his eyes.

_Shukaku?_ he thought. _What... _exactly_... did you do with my body two nights ago when I let you out?_

_**Hey! I didn't do anything**_**_ bad!_**

_Shukaku..._

**_Okay, I didn't do anything _too _bad! Just a little harmless fun!_**

Naruto huffed with annoyance. "Geez, what an idiot."

"Excuse me!?" Raiden asked, offended.

Naruto stood up and waved him off. "Not you, I was talking to someone else." They all raised an eyebrow as the blond walked around for a little, seemingly muttering to himself, before sighing and pointing at Quan Chi. "So if your Shao dude wins, then this planet will be absorbed, or something?" Quan Chi glared at him, but nodded, so he pointed at Raiden. "And if you guys win, then Shao Kahn can't invade?"

Raiden inclined his head. "Indeed, and he will not be able to attempt again for five hundred years."

Naruto's raised in eyebrow in annoyance. "Again, who in the hell thought that this tournament would be a good idea? It's a temporary measure at best and a bloody inefficient one at that." Then he shrugged. "But what the hell. I don't have anything else to do. Lead the way, Ray-dude."

Huffing in annoyance, the thunder god raised a hand, and then in a flash of lightning, all four of the group were gone.

* * *

><p>First chapter: Komplete.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two of my new Mortal Kombat/Naruto story, hope you all enjoy!

* * *

><p>Naruto blinked and looked around as lightning deposited him on the ground.<p>

**_I can't even talk to you right__ now. _**

_You are talking to me, Kurama._

**_Don't even know why. How the hell did you get yourself into this situation? More importantly, how did you get _us_ into this situation?_**

_I asked, ya moron._

Naruto looked around with curiosity. Guys with weird black-and-white masks were walking around and muttering to each other.

"I never asked, but what is your name?" Raiden asked, and Cage and the blond lady leaned in curiously.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he answered, looking around. "So when's the fighting going to start? I want to kick some ass."

"Kombat will begin as soon as the Outworld representative arrives," Raiden said. "Your free to meander until then. But no fighting."

Naruto pouted in disappointment, but brightened again quickly as an idea formed in his mind. "Alright. This'll be fun!" he said in excitement while he clapped Raiden on the back, ignoring the Thunder God's grunt of pain from the force of the blow, and walked away.

"Woah, that guy's weird," Johnny Cage said, before giving a glance over at the blond chick. "Hey beautiful, how you doing?"

Sonya Blade didn't even pay attention to him, as she was too busy staring after the mysterious man. Naruto, his name was, but she didn't know anything about him. At first she'd had a suspicion that he'd been Kano in disguise, but dismissed the thought. The build wasn't the same, and his voice was different from the arms dealer's.

Due to the hood and the alarmingly orange scarf, the only part of his face that she could see was his two bright blue eyes, twinkling with both mischief and something a little darker.

* * *

><p><em>This is so not fun!<em>

**_You have no one to blame but yourself, Naruto._**

_Oh, stuff it, you bloody octopus._

**_He's right, you know._**

_You too, Tabby? Never thought I'd see the day when an ox and a cat agree on something._

_**DON'T CALL ME TABBY DAMMIT!**_

Grinning in spite of himself, Naruto wrenched his fingers free from the stone they were dug into, before reaching up higher. Thirteen thousand years, and calling the Two-Tailed Cat Tabby still pissed her off. Climbing to the top of the tower had seemed like a good idea when he was actually on the ground. Now he was trying to reach the top so he could see where he was located. Looking over his shoulder at the dark clouds and mountains, he looked for something familiar.

Trouble was, he didn't recognize anything.

Having lived for close to thirteen thousand years and traveled quite a bit during that time, he was completely familiar with every inch of earth on... Earth. But nothing around here was even close to matching the geography. It was unusual.

And potentially troubling.

_**You're an idiot.**_

_Shut it, Saiken._

**_You didn't even decide to climb up the wall with your chakra. And I thought Gok_ū_ was stupid._**

_How I've lived this long with all of you jabbering on inside my head is something I'll never understand._

Finally making it to the top, he pulled himself onto the roof and looked around. A few groups of the masked guards were milling about or standing at attention. Other than that, not much of interest was happening, although a bunch of people, including the blond chick from before, were gathering near what looked like a platform, probably where the fight's were gonna happen.

"Oh dear, how exciting."

Spotting Raiden next to some shirtless guy with dark hair, he grinned mischievously and jumped off the building.

A hundred feet below, Raiden suddenly clutched his head as a series of images filled his mind. Liu Kang looked over in concern.

"Lord Raiden, what is it?" he asked.

Raiden took a breath and was about to reply when Naruto landed next to them, the ground cracking beneath his feet. Catching their stunned looks, he shrugged and said "What?"

Liu Kang shook of his surprise and looked back at Raiden, who took an amulet off of his clothes and stared at it. To both their surprise, several hairline fractures stretched across the surface.

"My Lord?"

"It is nothing, Liu Kang," Raiden said calmly, though inwardly he was perturbed. "The tournament begins."

Naruto, who wasn't paying attention to them in the slightest, looked around as drums started banging and a bunch of guys in dresses walked forward in unison.

Behind them, an old guy came forward towards the dais, flanked by the two hot chicks from before, who stood off to his side.

"Kombatants, I am Shang Tsung!" he said. "In the coming days, each of you will fight. Some are here of there own volition. Others were brought here by chance."

Naruto tuned the boring old geezer out and looked around. He noticed Johnny Cage trying to talk to the army lady, and failing pretty badly.

"Kano..." he heard her say, and followed her line of sight to a guy walking into the place. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the metal plate covering the right side of 'Kano's' face.

Smiling to himself as he made a note of who to follow when this was done, Naruto looked up at the old guy and opened his mouth.

Shang Tsung was in the middle of telling everyone how important this tournament was when he was interrupted.

"I challenge Shao Kahn!"

Shang Tsung nearly choked on his own words.

Literally everyone in the stadium stared at Naruto in shock as he stepped forward a little, his eyes twinkling with repressed excitement. "You know, unless he's a pansy."

The bearded man's eyes flashed dangerously, but that was nothing compared to the two ladies at his side.

"You dare challenge my father, mortal!" the blue one said, two bladed fans snapping open in her hands. Her companion held a cylinder that extended into a bo staff and what looked like a boomerang.

Naruto grinned cheekily. "Pretty much."

His grin faltered as every one of their weapons struck him in the face.

Kitana and Jade both smirked as the insolent fool struck the ground with a surprised look on his face. Such was the fate of any who dared challenge Shao Kahn.

Then he burst into smoke.

"How rude," said a voice from behind them, and they stiffened as arms wrapped around their shoulders gently. Before they could even be surprised, something sharp pressed against each of their throats.

Naruto, his hood and scarf in shreds, sighed. It seemed like every time he said something rude, people tried to kill him. How annoying. Paralyzing the lady in green with a bit of Killing Intent and flipping the kunai under her chin into an icepick grip, he reached up and pulled off remains of his clothes as he looked at both of the pretty ladies.

"I hope this won't be a regular occurrence. I don't want to have to replace all my clothes. Well, not after a fight, at least."

Blushing bright red, Kitana and Jade glared at the man with anger.

"Now," he said cheerfully. "Are you two hotties gonna behave? I really would rather have a calm, peaceful fight to the death with your asshole of a leader. Is that alright?"

Kitana's eyes flickered over at him as she glared at the man who dared insult her father. "You do not know who you are dealing with, you arrogant fool. My father will destroy you for your insolence!"

He flashed a cheeky grin that made her blush. "He's welcome to try, provided he isn't to much of a limp-dicked coward. I mean, he's the one who sent his servants and his _daughter_ of all people instead of manning up and fighting his own battles."

"I can fight," she growled. "I am not a helpless damsel."

"Oh, I know. I can tell you that compared to some of the people that I used to know, you're in the top ten for strongest. I'm assuming that's why daddy dearest decided to throw you to the wolves instead of bringing his punk-ass here," he said. "But anyway, I still have a question. Why are you two fighting to absorb Earth when you seem so nice?"

"I'll show you nice," Jade grumbled, and Naruto laughed.

"Well, relatively nice. Still, you don't seem to be the types to do this sorta thing for no reason."

Kitana swallowed uncomfortably, suddenly quiet. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

He stared deep into her eyes, making her blush at how close he was. "Alright. Last question. Why is Shao Kahn trying to absorb Earth?"

"He does so for the glory of Outworld!" Jade said vehemently.

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow, and sighed. "Yep. This fucker is definitely going to die."

"You could not stop my father if you had the power of the Elder Gods themselves!" Kitana snarled.

"Yeah, whatever," he said dismissively. "Don't get into too much trouble, you two."

Lowering the kunai in each hand, he looked over at their weapons and muttered something unintelligible, causing them all to fly into his hands, before he handed them to the two stunned women.

Taking them with surprise, the two ladies both gave simultaneous 'eeps' as Naruto, moving past them, swatted their ample behinds.

Before they could turn around to rip him apart, he disappeared in a flash of orange with a ringing laugh.

He reappeared behind Raiden and Liu Kang, the latter staring at him with something akin to jealousy.

"Do you realize how foolish challenging Shao Kahn was?" Raiden asked, staring intensely at Naruto, who merely shrugged.

"Yeah. Foolish to try and end this stupid tournament once and for all. Cause you still want to put all these people at risk for no reason?" Naruto replied. "I'm actually kind of glad the guy didn't rise to my taunts. If he had, this wouldn't have been fun."

The thunder god narrowed his eyes at the carefree attitude the blond exhibited, but turned around anyway as Shang Tsung gathered himself.

"The first fight will be... Naruto Uzumaki vs Reptile!" he said, a cruel smirk on his face. That would teach the insolent fool not to challenge the Emperor.

Naruto cracked his neck and walked forward, standing on the dais with his arms crossed. "Hurry up, you invisible lizard. I don't have all day."

Several of the crowd looked at him in surprise, not the least of which was Reptile himself, who faded into view and jumped down onto the stage. Roaring at Naruto, who yawned in boredom, Reptile charged, fists swinging.

His roar of anger turned into a squeal of pain as Naruto brought a leg up and kicked him hard in the junk.

"Huh, I didn't know lizards sounded like that."

Kneeling on the ground in agony, Reptile growled at the blond, who was whistling in boredom and not even facing him.

Lunging at Naruto's back, the overgrown lizard was surprised when he disappeared in a flash of orange.

Everyone looked around, wondering where the blond had gone, when a ringing laugh sounded throughout the arena.

"Oh, I haven't had this much fun in centuries! Bring it on, Lizzy, I'll kick your scaly green ass!"

Reptile snarled, looking around, trying to find where the annoying human was, before the oversized lizard saw a flash of blond hair and cheerful blue eyes before he was socked in the jaw.

Rocketing across the arena, Reptile smashed into the stone wall with such force that it cratered. Naruto waited for a few seconds as he fell onto the ground with thump and didn't move.

"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki," Shang Tsung bit out. "Round Two; fight!"

The shinobi looked at him strangely. "Uh, you do realize that he's not getting up, right? You stupid or something?" he said, and the old creep narrowed his eyes and had to refrain from lashing out with his magic. Instead, he looked over at where the fallen Reptile was unmoving and at the cracks blossoming out from where he'd hit the wall.

_Hmm, this one will be worth watching._

Naruto stepped down from the platform and was about to walk back to the stands when Shang Tsung called out his name again.

"Even if that is the case, you are not leaving yet!" Shang Tsung said, pointing down at where Reptile was laying on the ground. "Finish him!"

Naruto looked over at the downed lizard and then back at Shang Tsung. His pinkie came up and went straight into his nose, digging around. "No." Finally reaching his goal, the ninja flicked his plunder straight at the geezer, who suddenly squealed and danced around like a little girl as the impromptu missile hit him right between the eyes. "I'm not in the habit of killing helpless enemies. So go manhandle a corpse, or whatever the hell you do in your spare time."

Shang Tsung's eyes narrowed. Could this mysterious fighter possibly know about his Flesh Pits?

"That was a joke, you know. Jaysus, you're a creep."

"You will respect me, mortal!"

"Uh-huh, yeah. Good luck with that."

Looking around, Naruto smirked at the rest of his competition. "So..." he asked, cracking his knuckles.

"Who's next?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three.

* * *

><p>Naruto looked around at the assortment of people around the stage with a toothy smile.<p>

"Well? Anyone?"

Shang Tsung narrowed his eyes. "Your next opponent will be... Baraka!"

"Bawhaka?" Naruto asked. "What kind of name is that?"

A beige-skinned bald humanoid with razor sharp teeth and weird black marks on his forearms jumped from Shang Tsung's side and landed across from him on the stage.

"That's my name!" Baraka roared.

"Yeah, whatever," Naruto muttered with a yawn. "Isn't there _anyone_ here that can actually make me put an effort into a fight?"

"Do not be so dismissive!" Shang Tsung growled. "Baraka is a Tarkatan! He will destroy you and feast on your flesh!"

"Yeah, yeah," the blond answered dismissively. Then he paused. "Wait, are you serious? He _eats_ people?"

Satisfied that the human was now afraid, Shang Tsung smirked. "Indeed."

Then his smirk dropped as Naruto merely scrunched up his face in disgust. "Gross."

Baraka crouched into a fighting stance and extended his arm blades as Naruto reached into his back pocket and the thought of everyone in the stadium was; _Is he pulling out a weapon?_

That's why jaws dropped as he pulled out a small book. A small orange book.

Everyone stared in shock as he opened the book and began to read. Then that shock turned to confusion as he blushed and started to giggle.

Johnny Cage looked at the book for a second. _Where have I seen that before?..._

Baraka, in the meantime, was looking at the blond in anger. "How dare you ignore me!" He gritted his rather considerable teeth as his opponent kept reading, blushing and giggling weirdly.

Shang Tsung narrowed his eyes and his arm chopped down. "FIGHT!"

The Tarkatan leaped forward, his blades whistling through the air.

Only to meet open air as Naruto backed up out of reach. All the while, he didn't even stop reading the book.

Baraka swung again and again, growing steadily more frustrated as he didn't even land a scratch on the blond.

Letting out a roar, Baraka swung both arms in a hugging motion (as if he would be caught dead hugging anyone), intent on slicing his enemy in half at the waist.

Only, Naruto was no longer there.

At the last attack, he tensed his legs and jumped up and to the side, over Shang Tsung's head. Flipping around, his feet slammed into the side of the small building.

And stuck there.

And when Baraka saw Naruto continuing to read, his surprise turned to anger.

"Come down here you little worm!" he roared, charging past the people in dresses and jumping up to slice at the man stuck to the wall, who danced out of the way, _still on the side of the building.__  
><em>

"Weird how easy it is to ignore annoying people," Naruto mused, taking a break from his book and dodging again, this time landing back on the platform where the fight started.

_Ah-ha! I remember where I've seen that book before! _Johnny Cage mused as a lightbulb went off in his head.

Baraka couldn't remember the last time he'd been this angry. This little human was _mocking_ him!

With a roar of rage, the Tarkatan charged forward, his arm blades swinging, intent on slicing up the enemy before him.

Across from him, Naruto gently stuck the book between his teeth, freeing both hands. As the weird looking humanoid charged him, he merely grinned.

"Bring it on, baldy," he mumbled around the book.

For a second, and odd feeling settled over every spectator to the match.

It wasn't menacing or frightening at all. Wasn't cheerful or happy either.

But just for a second everyone felt a weight upon their shoulders as if something was hanging off them. Not good, not evil. Merely a feeling of power, steady and subdued.

Naruto blinked; the feeling passed.

Baraka swung his arms, aiming right at the ninja's neck.

And, to the surprise of everyone, struck.

When the clone burst into smoke and his fist put a dent in Baraka's face, Naruto's eye twitched.

"Shit."

The problem with living a long time was also the problem with becoming unbelievably strong. Barely anything excited him anymore.

"Well, that's that," he said, before looking up at Shang Tsung with a raised eyebrow. "Or do you think we need a second round?"

Looking over at where the Tarkatan was being dragged off, Shang Tsung's fists clenched and his teeth ground together as he struggled not to come down there and beat the disrespectful whelp to an inch of his life.

"No second round is needed. Your next opponent will be-"

"Oi, I ain't fighting another one of these weaklings! Unless you can pull a strong guy out of your ass, then I'm done!" Naruto shouted up at him. Shang Tsung glared down at him.

"You will fight if ordered, you disrespectful-"

"And what makes you think I give a shit about your orders?"

"The rules of Mortal Kombat were set down by the Elder Gods, none may contradict them!"

Naruto simply smiled. "Oh really?"

He turned around, sticking his hands in his pockets. Walking down the same tunnel Kano had come from, he gave a lazy wave over his shoulder and disappeared into the darkness.


End file.
